


From Prof. Severus Snape to the Editor of 'Magic Musings - A Current Events Political Journal'

by kangeiko



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Epistolary, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-01-02
Updated: 2005-01-02
Packaged: 2017-10-11 07:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/109790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kangeiko/pseuds/kangeiko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snape rants. And raves. In letter-format. WIP.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Prof. Severus Snape to the Editor of 'Magic Musings - A Current Events Political Journal'

  
Sirs,

It has come to my attention that several readers of this inane journal are labouring under the misapprehension that Harry Potter killed the Dark Lord. Or is that still He Who Must Not Be Named? I cannot be bothered to keep track of how your idiotic readership chooses to refer to the poor unfortunate that was Tom Marvolo Riddle. I am equally indifferent to the prospect of keeping abreast of Potter's ever-changing monickers, if that is any consolation.

I have judged it my duty to impart to your instititution, and to those miscreants you call your readership, information regarding the real nature of the events you write so casually about. I am willing to formally debate - and, if need be, duel - anyone foolish enough to disagree with my assessment unless they can provide explicit proof that they have intimate knowledge of the workings of the minds of Tom Riddle, Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore. Furthermore, I will not hesitate to eviscerate anyone with the temerity to judge that with which they themselves have had no experience.

I knew Harry Potter, as a boy and as a youth. I have the misfortune of knowing him as a man. He is no scarlet-clad hero. I also knew, in my time, a charismatic, forceful man called Tom Riddle; though I did not know him by that name, of course. I knew him, and so I use it now. I do not advise others to attempt it.

I shall not waste this missive in a useless attempt to show the world what a spoilt, whiny little brat Potter grew up to become. Neither shall I excuse nor condone Riddle's behaviour, nor my initial decision to join him, many years ago. Astonishing as it may seem to many of your moronic readers, neither of these rather self-important individuals is the focus of this epistle. Yes, on occasion, sane people do think upon subjects other than Saint Potter. I realise that this may be an unbearable concept, but I hope that at some of you are capable of overcoming your mental deficiencies for long enough to realise that Albus Dumbledore was most certainly neither wallpaper nor a brightly-coloured deus ex machina. In all of the public's sycophantic fawning over the Boy That Wouldn't Die, Dumbledore's role has been largely overlooked. He is often described (at best) as a benevolent benefactor, sagely dispensing advice and sweets to our innocent young hero whilst abstaining from any actual combat. This perception of Professor Dumbledore and the work of the Order does us all a grave disservice. I admit to being less than fond of some of my former colleagues, but it is intolerable to hear the names of those long dead so slandered. Alastor Moody, for all that he was morally and personally a repugnant individual, was nonetheless an exceptional Auror. I cannot, not even in my least charitable moments, picture him panting helplessly after the glory of Saint Potter. I ask that those readers capable of overcoming their natural aversion to reason and logic contemplate the following: was Mad-Eye Moody the sort of man to place his hopes on a fifteen-year-old wizard of dubious mental health? Is this behaviour consistent with Moody's famous admonishment of Constant Vigilence?

The idiots among you are probably wondering 'what really happened'. Those few slightly less moronic individuals may have well realised that the correct question is, 'Who caused it to happen, and why?' The myth of The Boy That Lived was developed, in part, to protect a mewling child barely out of its bassinet. It was not believed by those actually within the Order (nor anyone unfortunate enough to have been forced into contact with Potter, I would wager).

An illustration of this point may be required for that large portion of your readership that has the average mental capacity of a first-year Potions student. For those still requiring monosyllabic explanations and visual aids, pray consider the following hypothetical event: a cauldron explodes. Was the cause of this event the potion? Did the potion want to explode? Or did the Potions Master make a mistake? Perhaps the cauldron was defective, or one of the ingredients was harvested incorrectly. Perhaps the fault lies with the cauldron-maker, or the apothecary. Perhaps the idiot interrupting vital work by making too much noise in the adjacent rooms is to blame. Any one of these explanations may be true, bar the first.

A child of fifteen is not an individual. If he were another species, he could very well still be larvae. He is shaped by those around him, by his hormones and by his mistakes. The rumours circulating about my sexual proclivities have always amused me: in much the same way a mature frog has no interest in tadpoles, I had no interest whatsoever in the mass of walking hormones that was dear, sainted, Harry Potter.

Give me a boy until he is seven years of age and he will be mine always: it is well to keep this concept in mind. Myself, the Order, the Muggle Durseleys, Riddle and, above all, Headmaster Dumbledore, crafted a fairy tale for Potter to embody. The role had already been written for him; he merely had to grow into the part. It took him a surprisingly short amount of time. I had not realised that the role of tortured, modest boy-saviour was so alluring.

Things did not always go according to plan, of course. Diggory was not supposed to be lost, nor even Black, although I cannot say that I regretted his death. He was more useful as a martyr for the Order than as a guardian for Potter and I have no doubt that someone shall come up with the bright idea of an Order of Merlin for him for all the mutt endured. Ha. His role was to guide Potter, and he failed even in that. It was fortuitous that his death resulted in such an improvement in the Potter boy.  
*  
_To be continued. Probably._


End file.
